The history of Arpa Industriale. The history of Italian design

EVERY GOAL REACHED
IS A NEW BEGINNING

1950

The Fifties: the adventure of Italian design begins, beautiful and useful things for everybody

Architects and designers discover the furniture industry. A true revolution begins in the kitchen: with the first furnishings in series and the first electrical appliances, it becomes modular and compact. Plastic laminate is established as a valuable new industrial product and accepted in all levels of society as a sign of modernism.

1954

Arpa Industriale starts its operations in Bra

1960

The Sixties: mass consumption takes off

In response to new needs for practicality and comfort, a creative culture develops integrating the elegance of form with the functional necessities of the modern family. Furniture’s colours and shapes evolve quickly: from the traditional dark and light browns, they move to pastel colours, then to the black and white of Opt Art. The Arpa catalogue includes 50 different decors.

1970

The Seventies: imagination rules; Italian design is at the height of creativity

Homes become an explosion of chromaticism, fluorescent variations, geometric designs. Decorations change the look but and meaning of objects. Colours, materials and surfaces add structure to rooms, send off strong signals, and communicate their identity. Arpa’s offerings expand again: they quickly reach 100 decors, with six available finishes.

1970

First Italian subsidiary: Pesaro

1975

Surface finishes for high endurance (ERRE)

1980

The Eighties: it is time to experiment

Industrial design becomes a driver, and household furnishings are an extraordinary tool for the avant-garde. The domestic landscape is populated with totem objects, with bold colour schemes that meet emotional needs before they meet functional needs. Arpa’s offerings and capacity grow exponentially, not only in finishes and decors (more than doubled) but especially in innovations of types and materials.

1983

Postforming: bendable HPL for the furniture industry

1985

Unicolor: plain colour melamine laminate

1990

The Nineties: confronting a new minimalism of lines and shapes with aspirations of eco-sustainability

Increasingly frequent contact across different cultures brings Arpa to explore new solutions to the problems of living, while a new need for personalisation and identity affirmation leads the way.

1991

Installed incinerator with energy recovery and controlled emissions in real time

1992

Freestanding HPL with black core

1994

First European subsidiary: Arpa France

1998

Personalised HPL with digital transfer technique

1999

Building Grade: high-endurance HPL for external uses

2000

The new millennium: the pursuit of quality and sustainability

The home expresses the complexity, the contrasts and the multiplicity of tastes and cultures of contemporary living. A mixture of styles predominates. Lively colours, unusual materials, and new finishes are sought after. The fusion style triumphs. A growing sensitivity to the environment steers research to sustainable production.

2002

Arpa Creativity begins: a project in synergy with architects and designers

2003

First non-European subsidiary: Arpa USA

2005

EN 438 update

The strength of pressure used in Arpa’s production cycle, in order to maintain high standards of quality, is up to 60% greater than required by the standards.

2008

Adoption of the Code of Ethics

2009

Creation of the S.H.E. Department: Safety, Health, Environment

2010’s

Our times - the multi-sensory experience - there is no homogeneity of styles, nor is there a rigid division of spaces in traditional settings.

Living space must be welcoming and elicit emotions and sensations. The kitchen, for example, is no longer only a place to cook food, but a warm and social space, a place to experience companionship.